The caravan organizers who led several large groups of Central Americans from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador seem to have underestimated their welcome in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where some 2,000 citizens plan to protest against their arrival this Sunday.

Already earlier this week the first groups to arrive were met by angry citizens who screamed that they ‘weren’t welcome here.’

By now, it is estimated that 2,750 migrants of the various caravans are already camping out in Tijuana and the mayor estimates another 7,000 are on the way. In all, the town could face the prospect of having to house some 10,000 migrants for the next six months as their asylum applications to the US are processed.

Tijuana resident Ms Georgina Parra explained: "Tijuana has a lot of crime. They have a lot of murders. They have a lot of drug usage. So, they don't want those problems from Central America to come over here.”

It is, in fact, becoming an increasingly common sentiment among residents of the Mexican border city Tijuana to say that the migrants are no longer welcome, as Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum explained this week.

Mr Gastelum: “Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don’t want them in this way.”

“It was different with the Haitians, they carried papers, they were in order. It wasn’t a horde, pardon the expression. You’re going to tell me we have to respect human rights,” he continued, “but human rights are for law-abiding humans.”

The mayor is in fact mostly worried about the timing of the migrants’ stay in his city, explaining: “we’re talking about a minimum of six months, and there’s no upper limit.”

City authorities have converted a municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter which would normally house up to 1,000 people. By now there are already 2,000 migrants in there, including more than 400 children.

The city’s privately run shelters are meant to have a capacity of 700.